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Hudson dual-use plan goes to ballot

By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

Updated:
03/10/2013 08:52:14 AM EDT

HUDSON, N.H. -- A proposed $1.8 million combined senior center/cable TV facility on Tuesday's ballot is not nearly as expensive as it seems, and represents a long-term solution to two age-old problems at a one-time cost to the average property taxpayer of about $10, selectmen said.

Deciding the fate of the proposed dual-use building to be located at Benson Park is one of many articles and races that are giving Hudson residents reasons to turn out in large numbers to vote on Tuesday. Also driving the expected high turnout are a half-dozen controversial articles asking for a majority of voters' approval of contractually negotiated 2 percent pay raises for the town's police officers and supervisors, firefighters, and Highway Department and Town Hall employees over the next four years. There also are strongly contested races on the ballot for Board of Selectmen and School Board, each featuring five candidates two seats.

"I take no votes for granted in any election, nor on any one issue, but this particular article's a no-brainer as to why it ought to pass, I believe," said Selectmen Chairman Roger Coutu, regarding the senior center/cable TV facility described in Town Warrant Article 12.

After decades without a building to call their own, the Hudson Seniors Council on Aging has set aside more than $807,000 toward the construction of a new senior center, Coutu noted. Last year, the seniors agreed to contribute their savings toward building a dual-use facility in partnership with Hudson Cable-TV.

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As explained in the warrant article, by pooling the seniors' contribution with $895,595 from the Cable Access Center's Capital Reserve Fund, it leaves a remainder of only $118,000 to be raised through general taxation.

"That $118,000 is the maximum amount we need to raise above what we already have in the bank, and if we end up spending only $60,000 of it, depending on the bids that come in, the rest of it will go back into the general fund," Coutu said.

The one-year impact of approving the dual-purpose project for the owner of an average $257,000 Hudson home will be 4 cents per $1,000 dollars of valuation, or a little more than $10, proponents said.

"And for that $118,000 we're going to solve two problems: We'll be able to get out from under leasing the space for HCTV for $1,700 at the Nadeau Farms office building on Old Derry Road," said Coutu. "We'd save that money, plus we'll have our own TV facility with a new studio bigger than the entire space we're renting now.

Selectmen and town planners solicited the help of former Gov. John Lynch to receive a waiver from the state Department of Transportation to locate a senior center/cable-TV facility to the right of the main entrance road into Benson Park, off Kimball Hill Road.

Selectman Richard Maddox said it was his suggestion to move the proposed senior center to its currently proposed site from a previously considered plot on the opposite side of Benson Park's main parking lot.

"This is a more suitable spot for it," said Maddox. "Unlike on the other side of the parking lot, this location has no beautiful pine trees to cut down, and the down-slope means only the cupola atop the building will be visible from Kimball Hill Road."

The polls in Tuesday's election will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hudson Community Center on Lion's Avenue.

Follow John Collins on twitter at johncolowellsun.

Town Warrant Article 12 as it will appear on Hudson's March 12 ballot:

"Shall the town of Hudson vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $1,821,515 for the design, construction and operation of a dual-use Senior Center/Cable TV Facility to be located at Benson Park and authorize the withdrawal of $895,595 from the Cable Access Center Capital Reserve Fund and $502,396 from the Future Senior Center Capital Reserve Fund both of which were created for that purpose and to accept a donation of $305,528 by the Hudson Seniors Council on Aging, and the balance of $117,996 is to come from general taxation. The building will consist of two floors, with the upper floor dedicated to use by senior citizens of Hudson. (This appropriation is in addition to Article 11, the operating budget.) (Recommended by Board of Selectmen, 5-0; Recommended by Budget Committee, 7-1.)

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